Thursday, 7 January 2016

Happy Book Birthday January Edition

Really pleased to bring back the Happy Book Birthday feature for the new year! A huge thanks to Max Brallier, Tamsin Cooke, Tatum Flynn, Rohan Gavin, Jon Mayhew and Tamsyn Murray for taking part.

If your main character was going to a party to celebrate their book birthday, what would they wear?

Rohan: A three piece suit and hat made from finest Donegal tweed, and some crepe or gum soled shoes - which incidentally were the origin of the term “gumshoe”, meaning private detective.

Jon: Dakkar is the son of an Indian Rajah and he likes to dress snappily, so the finest jacket and breeches, shiny black boots, sword of course and a bright red waistcoat. If he’d just been wrestling a giant squid or sword fighting with pirates, he might look a bit scruffier and torn at the seams!

What three things would they most want to find in their party bag?

Tatum: Hell can be kinda dangerous - who knew? - and given the aforementioned knife skills, I think Tommy would like to find (a) weapons (b) chocolate cake (c) weapons

Rohan: A pair of gloves; a glass with a clear fingerprint; a hair sample.

Max: Jack Sullivan and his friends spend their days battling monsters, running from zombies, and documenting the world after the Monster Apocalypse. So Jack would definitely want a party bag packed full of stuff to help him in his daily heroic quests. For example…
- Grapefruit juice hand grenades. Jack loves these -- a blast to the eyes will blind most any monster. Never leave home without one!
- Instant film. Jack’s always whipping out his camera and snapping pics of giant monsters, his pals, and general post-apocalyptic weirdness.
- A Daisy Ridley, Rey action figure from The Force Awakens – Jack’s a big Star Wars nerd, and Rey would definitely be his new favorite hero.Tamsin: My main character, Scar, doesn’t get invited to parties, as the kids at school hardly know she exists. This is just how she likes it. But if she did go to a party, I guess she’d want what every girl wants to find in a party bag. A brand new set of night vision goggles in case her old pair breaks, a skeleton key that unlocks any door – she has to fiddle with a lock pick, and a very large piece of birthday cake.

What party game would they be most confident in winning at?

Max: Oh, super easy question – piñata!
Jack is never without his ultimate monster slaying weapon: The Louisville Slicer. It’s a busted baseball that’s all splintered and sharp and slicey. Is that a word, “slicey”? If it isn’t, it should be. Slicey.
Anyway, the Louisville Slicer is sorta like Jack’s light saber – it never leaves his side. And it would absolutely destroy any piñata. First swing and that poor piñata would be split open like a monster noggin. Candy for all!

Tatum: Hell's Belles has two main characters, but I'll plump for Tommy since this book is really her story. She'd be a dab hand at pin the tail on the donkey, since when she was alive (yes, oops, the main character is dead) she was a knife-thrower in a circus.

Tamsyn: Well, Cassidy is a champion hula-hooper so she'd be pretty confident about winning at that but I'm not sure it's technically a party game. She can also lick her own elbow (admit it, you just tried to do it too) but while that's an awesome talent to have (I can do it too) it's not a standard party game either. She'd be pretty amazing at charades, because in Drama Queen she goes to stage school, and she'd rock at Pin The Wig On The Elvis. That's a thing, right?

What would be their ideal birthday cake?

Tamsyn: Cassidy would most definitely want an enormous cake - one big enough for Ziggy from The Droids to leap out of and serenade her with their latest hit. The kind of cake she'd least like to have is a cheesecake, because her dog, Rolo, is a total cheesehead and he would totally try to cake-bomb. Does anyone ever have a cheesecake for their birthday cake?

If money was no object, what kind of party would you throw to celebrate publication?

Jon: I would hire a huge sailing ship and invite all my bookish friends on a cruise around the Caribbean. I’d have pirates attacking us (we’d win of course) and an exploding volcanic island… and cake.

Tamsin: If money was no object, then I’d have my book launch in an Aztec temple hidden amongst the rainforest in Mexico. People could dress up as Aztec gods and warriors. There would be holograms of shape shifters and everyone could eat their body weight in cake and jellybeans. All the jungle animals would be invited and of course they’d love to come…

Max Brallier is the author of more than twenty books and games, including the middle-grade series The Last Kids on Earth, illustrated by Douglas Holgate. Find out more about him on his website.

Tamsin Cooke loves to travel, have adventures and see wild animals.
She likes to think her Nahualli (spirit animal) would be a lioness or a
jaguar but her friends tell her it’s a Labradoodle! Her debut book is The Scarlet Files: Cat Burglar.
Find out more about Tamsin on her website.

Tatum Flynn has a cat called Friday, a soft spot for the word ‘ramshackle’, and a vagabond past which involves piloting lifeboats in Venezuela, playing poker in Las Vegas, shooting rapids in the Grand Canyon and almost falling out of a plane over Scotland.
Likes: being excited. Dislikes: being a grown-up. Hence: writes funny, scary books for kids, including her newest one, Hell's Belles.
Find her on Twitter, Goodreads, and her website.

Rohan Gavin is the author of the Knightley & Son series, featuring a father-and-son detective duo, including latest book 3 Of A Kind.

Jon Mayhew is the author of the Mortlock trilogy and the Monster Odyssey series, including newest book The Venom of the Scorpion. Find out more about him on his website.

Tamsyn Murray thinks she's funny. Her books include the furtastic
Stunt Bunny series, the Afterlife series and her latest book is the
cringe-along Completely Cassidy: Drama
Queen. She owns many pets and two children.

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Welcome to Middle Grade Strikes Back

We are a group of UK based writers and bloggers who have one important thing in common - we are passionate about middle grade fiction.

We appreciate that 'middle grade' is a term that is more traditionally used on the other side of the Atlantic, but these days it is becoming more commonly used in the UK. More importantly, it sounds so much better than 'Books For 8-13 Year Olds Strikes Back'.